Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 13, 2026
Façade-Level Monitoring of CO2 Variability under Urban Heat Island Conditions using Low-Cost Sensor Data Loggers
Published on: December 12, 2025
Performance Evaluation and Community Application of Low-Cost Sensors for Ozone and Nitrogen Dioxide
Rachelle M Duvall1, Russell W Long2, Melinda R Beaver3
1Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. duvall.rachelle@epa.gov.
Abstract:
This study reports on the performance of electrochemical-based low-cost sensors and their use in a community application. CairClip sensors were collocated with federal reference and equivalent methods and operated in a network of sites by citizen scientists (community members) in Houston, Texas and Denver, Colorado, under the umbrella of the NASA-led DISCOVER-AQ Earth Venture Mission. Measurements were focused on ozone (O₃) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). The performance evaluation showed that the CairClip O₃/NO₂ sensor provided a consistent measurement response to that of reference monitors (r² = 0.79 in Houston; r² = 0.72 in Denver) whereas the CairClip NO₂ sensor measurements showed no agreement to reference measurements. The CairClip O₃/NO₂ sensor data from the citizen science sites compared favorably to measurements at nearby reference monitoring sites. This study provides important information on data quality from low-cost sensor technologies and is one of few studies that reports sensor data collected directly by citizen scientists.
